PPT Lulakocr
The PPT Lulakocr (Luh-la-kor) Orbital-Drop Ship Medium Transport is the PPT Planetary Force's main craft for rapid delivery of troops to the battlefield. Conventional tactics of most advanced space-warring races include the use of a few expensive one-time use drop pods that carry only a single soldier at a time, and then dropping off the bulk of the troops at a secured (hopefully) landing zone and having them move to the front. This is a process that involves quite a bit of time and resources. The Lulakocr instead has a single large drop pod capable of dropping all of it's passengers and their equipment off on a planet. More soldiers are delivered faster to the battlefield, the pod is reusable, and the ship has little to fear from being attacked while trying to slowly navigate it's way down to the surface, land, download troops, prepare for and take off again, and try and regain orbit again. The only downside is that the pods, due to their size, are more limited on where they can be dropped. Most often they are dropped in the water near a shore, and then pod is propelled to the beach and the ramps dropped. Barring a suitable body of water, large flat area of ground is preferred. Uneven or unstable terrain (aka, swamps, bogs, mountains, soft mud, canyons, cities, etcetera) often means that the ramps are at the wrong height (pod sunk too low or it's hanging over the edge of a cliff or it's blocked by the only skyscraper that didn't get knocked over), which causes problems for the troops trying to exit. The pod carries much more than simply troops, tanks, artillery, engineering equipment, and close air support all stream out of the armored pod upon arrival, everything the unit needs to wage war on the front it just opened up. The pods typically carry a Battalion's worth of troops and equipment, including resources necessary to support them for a time. Thus a single pod can effectively open up a new mini-front, which the Atnlays are fond of doing. Rather than have a single front, or even a few single fronts, they will create pockets of their troops all over the place, leaving the enemy scrambling to mop them all up rather than concentrate all their firepower and logistics on one broad area. Given the Atnlays superior firepower and ability to resupply their troops pretty much whenever, they have little to fear of their much smaller units being overwhelmed by a much larger one. On the wings are two drop-pod launchers each, for firing your typical single soldier drop pods. These rocket ahead of the pod and secure the landing zone for it, especially if the LZ is especially hot or, in the case of your typical water landing, the Army prefers to secure the beachhead first. Otherwise they may simply wish to destroy some target just prior to the pod landing that may or may not threaten it, or engage the enemy and cause confusion just before the pod's arrival, which always makes things easier...for the Atnlays. Located on the bottom of the main section of the ship are eight orbital bombardment weapon platforms, used for softening up an LZ and guiding the pod down with a protective measure of fire to obliterate any defenses that may be in place for shooting something such as this down. These platforms also make the ship useful in support of the element's campaign farther on down the road. But should something attempt to bring the pod down, it is well protected. A thick layer of armor and internal shield generators guarantee it's survival down, and stealth measures make it difficult to identify and track. The Lulakocr itself carries four beam turrets and two bolt turrets for self defense, along with two TM missile tubes carrying the standard 8 missiles apiece. WORM generators, slipspace drives, and powerful sublight engines, along with your typical impenetrable shielding and armor that come standard with the PPT are also included. Lulakocrs are typically used for delivery of troops to battle rather than ferrying to and from stations, other ships, or wherever, but if necessary can be used for such a purpose. Category:Ships